Clay has appeared in several films and television shows, including critically acclaimed supporting roles in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine (2013) and the 2018 remake of A Star Is Born, the latter of which earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.

Clay was born to parents Jacqueline and Fred Silverstein[3] in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City, where he was raised.

[9][10][11] At age five, Clay was entertaining his family with impressions, and by seven he was playing drums, inspired by the sounds of big band music.

[14] His act was mainly impressions, including a character named "The Diceman", based on Jerry Lewis as Buddy Love from The Nutty Professor, which transformed into John Travolta in Grease.

[14] With his new act, Clay graduated to larger and more prestigious comedy venues, including The Improv, Catch a Rising Star, and Dangerfield's.

[15] In 1983, Clay added the "Diceman" moniker to his name and no longer relied on impressions, instead creating an alter ego based on his heroes.

[16] His performances at the venue led to his first sitcom roles, with appearances on M*A*S*H and Diff'rent Strokes, and feature-length films, including Making the Grade (1984), Pretty in Pink (1986), and Casual Sex?

A review by Los Angeles Times critic Michael Wilmington described Clay's character as "a macho bozo from Jersey".

Clay's breakthrough came in 1988 when he performed at an all-male Big Brother Association dinner event with "all of Hollywood's royalty [...] dressed in tuxedos, and I show up in a black leather jacket with a flag on the back that said 'Rock and Roll'".

The set was a hit; the next day, 20th Century Fox offered him a film deal and entered talks with producer Joel Silver.

In March, he released his debut comedy album, Dice, which was certified gold by the RIAA for selling over 500,000 copies in the U.S.[18][19] It peaked at No.

[15] In September 1989, Clay performed a three-minute set at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards, which included Otto Petersen's adult versions of the Mother Goose nursery rhymes.

In December 1989, Clay performed two unadvertised, largely improvised sets at Dangerfield's, which were recorded for his second comedy album, The Day the Laughter Died, produced by Rick Rubin.

[20] In February 1990, Clay became the first comedian to sell out two consecutive nights at Madison Square Garden in New York City,[15] totaling 38,000 people in attendance.

NBC used a five-second tape delay to cut offensive content from the live broadcast, but one remark escaped removal.

[28] Footage of Clay's shows at Madison Square Garden was used to produce his 1991 stand-up concert film Dice Rules.

[31] A sell-out show at Symphony Hall in Salt Lake City in August 1991 was met with angry protesters outside the venue over his perceived homophobia and hateful material, during which police were called.

[21] In 1995, he signed a development deal with CBS and producer Bruce Helford, resulting in his starring role on the sitcom Bless This House.

[34] In mid-1995, Clay explained that the Diceman character had "sort of gone out of hand", which he felt happy about because it allowed him to pursue more television and film work.

He supported these with a nationwide tour that included a headline show at Madison Square Garden, ten years after his two sold-out performances.

In 2017, Clay competed in and won, with his wife Valerie Silverstein, the Fox reality cooking series My Kitchen Rules.

Clay beat out several high-profile actors for the part, including Robert De Niro and Ray Liotta, and his performance received positive reviews, as did the film.

[citation needed] On the third-season Murphy Brown episode "Brown and Blue", a reluctant Murphy is made to interview a rising yet crudely controversial comedian, Tony Rocket (Michael Chiklis), whose character is loosely modeled on the Diceman and his material during the height of his popularity.

[61] A December 1990 episode of Night Court focuses on a raunchy comedian, Monte "The Potty Man" Potter, who alienates everyone with his jokes.